The Boy She Tried to Throw Out

Chapter 15 - Theodore Cross’s Last Room

Theodore Cross left one final room locked in the family mansion.

Julian had avoided opening it after the funeral. It had been his father’s private study, the place where decisions became commands and affection became inheritance schedules.

Theo asked to see it.

“Why?”

“He knew about me.”

Julian could not refuse.

Marissa joined them.

Inside, dust covered the desk. Family portraits lined the walls: generations of Cross men in dark suits, all appearing convinced they invented seriousness. On a shelf sat a new frame.

Theo’s school photograph.

Taken two years earlier.

Theodore had obtained it through the investigator.

Marissa stared at it.

“He watched him grow.”

Julian felt anger rise again. “From a distance.”

On the desk was an unfinished letter addressed to Theo.

Elias had not known about it.

Julian opened the letter but gave it to Marissa first.

Theo,

I am your grandfather, though I did not earn the right to use the word. I believed status protected families. In truth, I used it to protect myself from admitting I was wrong. If you ever enter this room, remove whatever makes you feel small.

Theo looked around.

He walked to the largest portrait, one of Theodore himself.

“Can I take this down?”

Julian blinked.

“Yes.”

They removed the portrait together.

Behind it, the wall was a different shade.

Theo chose one of his own drawings to hang there: three people under a chandelier, one in cream, one in black, one very small between them. Off to the side, a woman in red was drawn leaving through a door.

Marissa laughed despite herself.

Julian placed the drawing on the hook.

The room changed immediately.

Not healed.

Rewritten.

Theo looked satisfied.

“Now it’s less creepy.”

Julian agreed.

Before leaving, Marissa took the school photograph from the shelf.

Not to destroy it.